The problem of setting in urban fantasy

[Stranger Things]

I usually ask which city is most interesting,giving them a few options. It does not have to stay in one place either. Alternatively I invent a city.

[Humble1]

Even when I was gaming with a group from the same city, I always used an alternate city based loosely on reality. Being able to restructure the city on the fly gives you a lot more flexibility. You're in control in an alt-city, so no one can contradict you when you say there's no time to run to the police, or whatever.

Players will get self-indulgent and decide they all have to take their characters to your real-life hang-out. It's just easier to stay in character when it's not familiar ground.

Plus, a real city means real city politics. Which area of the city is the "bad area" and why? What's your opinion on the local police? Better to avoid those questions entirely.

[silveroak]

Realistically speaking as soon as you add magic, unless it is in a traumatic way (magic works, since last week) then it would change the layout of the city. A modern American city does not generally have a shop or tower where a wizard can ply his trade, not laws to deal with such. You are inherently dealing with a fictional city, the question is how closely the city matches a real world template.

[TADHG]

Originally Posted by silveroak

Realistically speaking as soon as you add magic, unless it is in a traumatic way (magic works, since last week) then it would change the layout of the city. A modern American city does not generally have a shop or tower where a wizard can ply his trade, not laws to deal with such. You are inherently dealing with a fictional city, the question is how closely the city matches a real world template.

The Wizards of Wall Street work in towers.

[MagePcfan]

As someone who's run urban fantasy and horror games for decades, my advice is simple... real world factual accuracy is essentially worthless for most players.

What really matters is the feeling it gives to the location and how players and characters get the immersion of the location. For example I ran a Masque of the Red Death campaign set in Paris in the 1890's and as we played things like geography, exact dates to events and such I definitely stumbled over and some stuff did come off as innacurate.

But it didn't matter because the tone, style and feel of the story invested the characters with what to us felt very Parisian in imagery as they later told me. Any history and geographer would likely have failed us. But the point is facts in a campaign setting only matter as much as you can use them in a story. If something is different in the real world then your campaign, then it's how it is in your campaign.

As long as everything is fun, accuracy will always be secondary.

[Sic Transit]

It's been a long time since I ran this genre, but I always picked a city based on the story I wanted to tell, got a few maps for the overall layout, made sure I knew where the really major landmarks and historical spots were (plus a handful of locations to get the first plot going), then filled in the rest as I needed it.

Once you're up and running, "discovering" the geography of fictional Atlanta or Dallas or London or Cairo isn't much different from doing that with fantasy cities. Sure, once or twice in college, we had the sort of player who got out of sorts that the house at the southwest corner of 13th and Pine was two stories, not one, and clearly not a Craftsman. And they didn't get invited back for the next session.

[silveroak]

Something else to keep in mind for urban fantasy- buildings change relatively frequently, especially in commercial areas where someone not making rent on the land can result in new construction being accomplished in a month or two.

[BlackDragon0]

I've read several end books in urban setting.( of the fantasy style and times. such as ten towns luskan neverwinter...ect. I would consider such a urban setting that way those familiar with that game more will have a basic understanding of the place and how it goes.